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Oct 30, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Sad13

Sad13, aka Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz, released her sophomore album, Haunted Painting, in September via Wax Nine. Now she has done a Halloween-themed Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, performing with her band in costumes, and also shared a new lyric video for the album’s “The Crow.” In the concert Dupuis and band perform four songs: “Oops…!,” “Hysterical,” “WTD?,” and “Take Care.” Watch both videos below.

Of “The Crow” video, Dupuis had this to say in a press release: “‘The Crow’ wound up the heaviest song on Haunted Painting, although the demo was originally inspired by Clairo and solo Rob Crow. I started the lyrics on a 22-hour layover in L.A. after hearing of David Berman’s death, trying to process the loss of an artist whose keen writing helped make sense of a convoluted world. Waiting to fly home, I posted up at Taix, a favored haunt of another favorite writer, Eve Babitz. Her work couldn’t be more different from Berman; in Black Swans, she writes about weekending at the Chateau Marmont during the L.A. riots, oblivious (‘faint-hearted bottle blonde hiding out until the smoke just passes,’ I wrote in the lyrics.) It can be tempting to embrace frivolous luxury when horrific shit happens nearly every day and your brain’s had enough.

“Jono Ganz is a great illustrator who has done music videos for friends’ bands like Supermilk and Cheerbleederz. On this one, he drew inspiration from mid-20th century film title cards, horror and otherwise. I spotted Spider Baby, The Dunwich Horror, and Halloween among his references, but also Bond movies and Bonjour Tristesse (surely also a favorite of Babitz.) I love typography and text art so it was a treat for me to have Jono bring this song and its words alive alongside some very cute movie monsters.”

Previously Dupuis shared the album’s first single, “Ghost (of a Good Time),” via a video for the track, which Dupuis said is a “party song about not going out.” The album also includes “WTD?,” a new song Sad13 shared via Adult Swim Singles in May. “WTD?” was one of our Songs of the Week. She also shared a video for “Oops…!” that featured Dupuis as a vampire who bakes cakes and other goodies to lure in her victims in the video. Then she shared another song from the album, “Hysterical,” via a music video. Then she shared one last pre-release single from the album, “Ruby Wand,” via a stop-motion video for the song.

Haunted Painting is the sophomore Sad13 album, the follow-up to 2016’s Slugger. The album was recorded at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco and New Monkey Studio in Van Nuys, California, a studio that was built by Elliott Smith in the 2000s not long before he died. The album was made exclusively with women engineers, including mixer Sarah Tudzin (Weyes Blood, Illuminati Hotties), tracking engineers Erin Tonkon (David Bowie, Esperanza Spalding) and Maryam Qudus (Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, mxmtoon), and “mastering legend” Emily Lazar (Beck, Dolly Parton). It also features guest vocals from from Helado Negro’s Roberto Lange, Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki, Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, and Pile’s Rick Maguire. Zoë Brecher plays drums throughout the album.

Dupuis had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “I worked on Haunted Painting throughout 2019, writing, arranging and recording from home, then finishing the songs in studios around the country in between Speedy’s fly-in dates. It’s maximalist, and more true to me and my tastes than any record I’ve done.”

Check out our Why Not Both podcast interview with Sad13 on Haunted Painting.

Read our review of Haunted Painting.

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